Linear programming model - Essay Example

These points represent the maximum and minimum values for each situation when they are injected into the equation that needs to be optimized. The total range of solutions lies within the bound region alone. 2. Discuss the importance of inventory control with respect to supply and demand. Inventory control is critical to any business for a number of reasons but majorly because it affects operating costs and output production levels directly. For any business it is essential to keep an optimized level of the inventory such that things are available when needed but are not overstocked or under stocked.

In case that inventory items are overstocked the business is pushing its finances into warehouses that could have been used elsewhere while if items are under stocked there is the possibility that business operations will be negatively affected. In order to optimize the supply demand requirements of an organization inventory control is essential. 3. What benefit can tools such as ABC analysis and just-in-time controls provide for an organization? ABC analysis allows a set of selective inventory controls to be placed in order to optimize inventory levels. . On the other hand the JIT inventory control philosophy tends to source materials just before they are required for operation.

This ensures a healthy supply and demand cycle such that large warehousing efforts are not required while a constant and adequate supply of parts is available just when required. The lack of large warehousing and the absence of large inventories reduce the overall operational costs significantly. 4. How can an enterprise resource planning system assist a firm with improving its business operations? The purpose behind an ERP system is to integrate the aspects of internal and external information management.

The aspects of communication throughout the entire organization are integrated into one platform so that manufacturing, retailing, finance, sales and service etc. all communicate together and are well aware of each other’s demands. These channels of internal communication are superimposed by external channels of communication though the external channels may not be as large in number and may not necessarily interact with all the internal channels. The utilization of a pervasive ERP system provides all members of the organization with an overall outlook of demands and constraints that ought to be met for business operations to proceed as planned.

The constraints put in place by communication are resolved through the use of effective ERP systems and this in turn tends to improve upon the overall business environment of the organization. 5. What benefit would be gained by utilizing linear programming (LP) for marketing research? Linear programming is about optimizing any set of problems using input in the form of equations and inequalities derived from word problems. Real world marketing problems are composed of word problems and